After a series of accusations made by Aldo De Benedittis, the centre-right candidate and his challenger in the run-off, the progressive candidate Marialuisa Forte has chosen to respond publicly. She did it to Villa Musengadefending himself from accusations of having orchestrated an ‘old political mess’ by signing a programmatic political agreement with the civic candidate Pino Ruta.
“I don’t have any armchair logic also because it’s my first time. Today I’m not emotional because I’m angry. I ask for a meaningful vote, we calmly await the electoral commission’s counts. It is not true that they have a majority in the council and we are calm”, Forte declared firmly.
Marialuisa Forte spoke of a “co-responsibility pact” between her and Ruta, a pact to administer Campobasso well and remove it from the right. You harshly criticized the centre-right coalition, accusing it of using empty slogans. “Anyone who says they love Campobasso and then is in a coalition that erases the capital with differentiated autonomy doesn’t love Campobasso, it’s just a slogan,” Forte said.
During his speech, Forte shared ten stories of women whom he met during the electoral campaign, using them to illustrate his electoral programme. “We are in the run-off – she begins – but before talking about actual politics I want to tell you some stories of women that I have collected in recent days”.
And he quotes Anna, Giava, Giovanna, Gaia, Francesca… women who asked specific questions “to which we gave reassuring answers to look forward and do so with optimism and concreteness”. He then reiterates microcredit to help those who want to open a business, a natural commercial center for trade, social pacts for those experiencing hardship, returning services to the districts, building a sustainable city…
It’s about Anna, a 25-year-old who wants to stay in Campobasso and start a business. Forte proposes microcredit to her with the municipality acting as guarantor for the banks. He talked about Francesca, whose husband was fired, explaining that the answer lies in social agreements and resources for people in difficulty. Giovanna, a victim of domestic violence, received reassurances on the strengthening of the shelter homes and the anti-violence centre. Gaia, a twenty-year-old worried about the climate emergency, found in Forte’s program a green city, sustainable mobility and renewable energy. Maria, an elderly woman from the historic center who complains about security problems, has heard about a new local police station and the redevelopment of the area with events such as Saturdays in the village. Giorgia, interested in culture and entertainment, saw a program that relaunched the cultural sector. And finally, Forte presented the House of Emerging Technologies for start-ups, a project that aims to make Campobasso an inclusive and innovative city.
He spells out his team’s objectives one by one. And then he goes on to talk about “real politics”.
“The centre-right won in Termoli, Fratelli d’Italia is always the first party in the country, but it didn’t win in Campobasso. Here the Democratic Party is the first party with 16%. The Greens and Left alliance also did well and so did the 5 Star Movement”.
This time she is not moved, but angry “because of the nonsense that I’m hearing from my opponents.”
“They said that we wouldn’t go to the ballot – she continues – that evening, last Monday afternoon, we had reliable data like the centre-right had and yet they laughed at me. But we’re on the ballot, thanks also to Pino Ruta. I asked the Cantiere civico for co-responsibility in the administration of this city and we are not doing this to divide up seats as the centre-right is saying but to administer and to administer Campobasso well”.
The final parade: “It is our job and that of the citizens to take this city away from a right that we think is harmful. Let’s even remove the word center, it is a movement that is moving increasingly to the right both at a regional and national level. They talk about an institutional supply chain, but this institutional supply chain will only make our capital lose its centrality.”
Everyone is present at Villa Musenga: Ovidio Bontempo, Pino Ruta, Massimo Romano and the future councilors in the political-programmatic agreement. And then, of course, the entire PD, Antonio Federico (M5S), exponents of the Greens and the Left, the former mayor Antonio Battista, Roberto Ruta and Annamaria Macchiarola.
